THE family of Bolton heart-transplant schoolgirl Emma Standish is supporting a new campaign urging people to carry a card and give their hearts.

Bolton mum Deborah Cartwright hopes the nationwide crusade will remind people of the importance of organ donation.

Mrs Cartwright remembers only too vividly the moment when doctors told her that they had found a heart for Emma -- who had been given just hours to live last Christmas.

Mrs Cartwright said: "I was completely stunned when they told us the news. Words cannot describe our thanks and gratitude to the donor family. I realise that they had to go through tragedy to do this. But it gave Emma back her life."

Mrs Cartwright believes that it should be compulsory for people to carry an organ donor card.

As reported in the Bolton Evening News, Emma, now aged 11, was given just hours to live in December 2000 after her heart failed following a flu-like illness.

But a donor gave Emma a chance to live and she is now back at school and enjoying a normal life in Farnworth.

The Cardiomyopathy Association say that the illness which struck Emma is a major cause of heart failure and the number one cause for heart transplantation.

Official figures from UK Transplant show that four out of five children who underwent heart transplant surgery in 2001 and 2002, was as a result of cardiomyopathy.

GPs across Bolton will also soon receive a special CD-ROM giving details on how to spot the illness -- which can be difficult to diagnose.

Professor William McKenna, President of the CMA said: "Heart failure is perceived to be a disease of older patients but it also occurs in children, adolescents and young adults.

"We want to raise awareness of the fact that as demand for donor hearts often outstrips the supply people are needlessly dying each year.

"Our aim is therefore to encourage people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and carry a Donor card and at the same time we're launching the first ever CD-roms explaining the condition."

Emma continues to have check ups every six weeks in Newcastle where she recently met with fellow heart swap girl, Sally Slater, aged eight, from Yorkshire -- who was also struck down with the illness and given a new heart.

There are currently 38 people waiting for heart transplants in the UK.